Journal-News.com

DAYTON — Badin High School's boys basketball team is headed to the Division III sectional finals, thanks to a spirited second-half performance Friday night, Feb. 27.

Scott Purcell poured in 25 points for the Rams, who shot 62.9 percent from the field and opened the second half with 10 straight points to surge past Brookville 65-52 at the University of Dayton Arena.

"In my mind, I knew we were better than them," said Purcell, who had nine points in the third stanza. "We just started playing a little harder in the second half and kind of figured out what they were doing."

Scott Staarmann was scoreless in the first half, but erupted for 10 points in the third period, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the initial three minutes.

Badin (11-11) outscored the Blue Devils 25-11 in that decisive third quarter and eventually stretched its lead to 58-39.

"I'm very happy because that was a very good basketball team," Rams coach Nick Argentati said. "They shoot the ball. They've got guys that drive. They're tough on defense. That's a better team than anybody we played last year in the tournament."

Argentati said the only thing Badin changed at halftime was its mind-set.

"We just calmed down a little bit," Argentati said. "We were a little flustered in the first half. We let their physicalness and some of the calls bother us."

Staarmann and Colton Mehlman both marked 12 points for Badin, with Mehlman grabbing seven rebounds. The ninth-seeded Rams were 16-of-26 at the foul line, compared to the Blue Devils' 10-of-11 effort.

Cory Caudill (16), Brandon Dunn (12), David Sievers (10) and Brad Peters (9) paced the scoring for No. 6 seed Brookville (14-7), which shot 46.2 percent from the floor and committed 17 turnovers. Dunn had nine boards.

The Blue Devils converted six treys, four by Caudill. They also ruled the boards by a 25-17 margin.

"Their shooters went a little cold in the second half," Argentati said. "That's going to happen with the kind of offense they run. They're going to hit some threes, but they'll also go stretches without making them."

Ben Motley snagged four rebounds for Badin, which had 11 turnovers. Teammate David Morner chipped in five second-half points.

The Rams return to UD Arena next Friday for a 5 p.m. sectional title matchup against eighth-seeded Versailles (12-9). The Tigers defeated Madison 49-47 on a last-second shot Friday.

"They look like a (Greater Catholic League) team to me," Argentati said of Versailles. "I'm expecting a tough game."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194 or rcassano@coxohio.com.